Drug scandal taking toll, says Thompson.
Essendon assistant coach Mark Thompson admits that the drug scandal that is surrounding the club is taking a toll on the players and coaching staff as they prepare for the opening round of the 2013 season.
Since the shock announcement that use of banned substances were rife in Australian sports by the Australian Crime Commission clubs that have been identified as under investigation have been high in the media spotlight.
With the AFL and Australian Sport Anti Doping Authority investigating Essendon for breaches of the AFL’s drug policy players and staff have felt the heat.
Talking to Fox Footy’s AFL 360 Thompson, who also coached Geelong for 11 years says that despite the clubs best efforts to carry on as normal the issue still played on their minds.
Thompson says he feels embarrassed since the drug scandal emerged and has found waiting for the investigations findings difficult.
“To be honest we just have to sit back and wait, and we can’t defend ourselves because we’re just not allowed to and we understand that, we’re part of this process where we want to find the truth out and once the truth comes out we’ll deal with the consequences.”
The premiership titles won by Geelong while Thompson was coach are also under speculation by the ASADA investigation but Thompson refused to comment of the involvement of high performance manager Dean Robinson at the club.
“Again, when all the truth comes out, if there is anything that happened at Geelong well it will come out too,” he said.
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